Making Beautiful Music After Stroke

The best thing I heard from my doctor was I could play my saxophone again. And that was music to my ears.

”– Jeannie Hamilton,

Stroke Patient

Making Beautiful after Stroke

Music

Earlier this year, Jeannie Hamilton and her daughter were rehearsing at home for the Summit Metroparks Orchestra when Jeannie experienced vision loss. Her daughter appropriately called EMS, who promptly took her to Summa Health Akron Campus. Here, the 84-year-old encountered Dr. Susana Bowling, a neurologist,

Susana Bowling, M.D. via robot.

“By the time I got to the hospital, they were already waiting for me,” shares Jeannie. “And that’s when I met Dr. Bowling and she was on a monitor in a robot and she was just ever so friendly. It was like she was right beside me.”

Dr. Bowling diagnosed a stroke and the staff administered a drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA. It can dissolve the blood clot causing a person’s stroke, and protect brain tissue from any further damage.

The drug worked and Jeannie is doing remarkably well. She has some residual range of vison issues and receives therapy at home, but is on the road to recovery. Jeannie raves about the Summa Health staff and how everyone answered all of her questions and were so attentive.

“That neurology team acted so quickly that I did not worry about having the stroke because I knew that God had planted these people, the neurology team, in my path to take care of me.”

She was most eager to get back to playing her saxophone and the first thing she asked her doctor following the stroke was when she could return playing. She’s thrilled to be back to practicing and looks forward to the ensemble being able to play in public again, post COVID-19.

“The best thing I heard from the doctor was I could play my saxophone again. And that’s music to my ears.”

Summa Health’s InTouch Health™ robots allow stroke neurologists to remotely perform live, real-time audiovisual consultations with the patient and emergency medicine team to speed the delivery of clot-busting drugs crucial to halt and reverse stroke damage. Through the robot’s monitor, patients and family can also see, hear and communicate with the specialist.